Wrapping machine



cmi-21 1,' A924. 1,512,495

' R. A. SIMPSON WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Feb. 1ov 1921 6 sheets-sheet 5 Figi* R. A. SIMPSON WRAPPING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Feb. l0

WIM.

NNN: NWN NN @gy/ggg@ 7 Patented ,0i-1.2i, 1924. p

UNITED STATES,

y y y 1,512,495 PATENT oFFicE.

BUFUS A. SIMPSON, OF OAKLAND, CALIFOIRNL'.l

WRAPPING MACHINE.

Application led February 10, 1921. Serial No. 443,851.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, RUFUs A. SIMPSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Oakland, in the county of lAlameda and State of California, have invented.

certain new and useful Improvements in Wrapping Machines, of which the followingms aspecification.

is invention relates to improvements in article wrapping machines and more articularly to a machine for wra ping articles of a semi-solid nature, and o a parallelopiped shape, such as bricks of ice cream and blocks of butter.

In my invention, a continuous strip of wrapping paper is fed through a body of liquid in front of a pocket and the required length automatically cut from the strip about the time the article is placed therein. The articles are placed by hand in position on a feed rack and from that time until they are released from the machine the various operations are automatically performed.

One of the principal objects of my invention is to provide an improved feed mechanism by which a stack of articles is brought into the feed chute and from the latter one article at a time is deposited in the carrier on which the various folding operations take place.

I also 'aim to provide means by which the sudden shocks due to the intermittent movement ofthe various parts of thev machine are absorbed, thereby enabling the machine to be operated at. comparatively high speed.

Another object is to deliver the wrapped articles in a convenient manner for attendants to assemble them preparatory to placing them in cartons.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel fea-- tures of construction, combinations and arrangement of parts herein illustrated and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a view in plan of my improved machine.

Figure 2 is a view in side elevation of the same.

Figure 3 is a slightl enlarged longitudinal section through' t e machine.

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view machine showing the rotating carrier and associated mechanism. Figure 6 is a view in plan of the front portionof the machine, showing the feed mechanism.`

Figure 7 is a view in elevation on the line 7-7 Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a detailed view, partly in elevationand partly in.v section showing the gripping mechanism and cutting mechanism for the paper.

Figure 9 is an enlarged sectional view through the stationary cutting knife and the paper gripping lingers showing the operation of the latter. v

Figure 10 is an enlarged sectional view at 10-10 Figure v3.

AFigure 11 is a view in elevation of the driving gear and the intermittent Geneva movement for the rotating carrier.

Figure 12 is a view in section on the line 12-12 Figure 11.

Figure 13 is a view in side elevation of the paper starting machanism.

Referring to corresponding parts in they several views by the same numerals of reference: 1 denotes a fiat table or base on which the various parts of the machine are mounted. This base may be supported on suitable legs 2 any convenient height from the floor. The carrier in which the articles are held while the folding operations are performed is denoted by 3 and comprises a rectangular frame L having the sides 4 which are provided with inwardly extending hubs 5, one of which is pinned or otherwise attached to the shaft 7. The opposite hub is revolubly mounted on a sleeve 6 which is nonrevolubly held in bearing 6. vAttached to the sleeve between the hubs 5 is a cam 8 -which is provided with the projecting por- The outer ends of the plates 11 and12 are slightly curved outwardly as shown at 14 for the purpose of better guiding the article into position.

This carrier is intermittently moved through 180 degrees by means of aii improved Geneva movement attached to the outer end of shaft 7. Oscillatively mounted on the outer end of shaft 7 is a disc 16, having the diametrically disposed. radial slots 17. Keyed to the shaft inside of this disc is a plate 15, and this plate and the disc are provided, on adjacent faces, with pins 19 and 18 respectively which project towards each other and which overlap. These pins are held in contact by a heavy spring 20, coiled about the shaft 7 and having its ends connected to the two pins. Thus when the disc is started into motion, a slight relative movement may take place between it and the shaft thereby preventing stresses which would occur if the carrier and associated parts were started suddenly. At the same time, the spring 20 is strong enough to normally hold the pins in contact and thus cause the shaft and carrier 4 to have a fixed relation to the disc 16. Disc 16 is held in positive angular'positions by means of the latch lever 21. This device is pivotally and slidably mounted on a pin 22 and has an upwardly extending lip 23 which is adapted to engage notches 24 in the edge of the disc. The lever is held upwardly against the outer face of the disc by means of a spring 25. Extending from a point in the rear end of the latch bar, but not connected thereto, is a rod 26, the opposite end of which is attached to the upper end of the leaf spring 27. The bar is slidably mounted in a guide 28 and the leaf spring may be adjusted by means of a screw 29, so that the end of the rod 26 is pressed against the stud 30. This stud is adjustable against pin 22 so that the position of the latch as a whole may be varied, governing in this manner the position of rest of the carrier 3. The lip of the latch bar is released from notches 24 by means of the cam surface 31 which contacts with the offset portion 31 formed on the latch. As here shown, this cam surface is attached to the driving gear 32 which is keyed to shaft 33. The cam may be comparatively short as it is only necessary to hold the latch raised while the disc 16 is acquiring its initial movement. Gear 32 is driven by means of a pinion 35, the same being mounted on a shaft 36. The shafts 7, 33 and 36 are revolubly mounted in bearings 37 which are carried by a suitable bearing frame-work 38. Shaft 36 is provided with a belt wheel 39 or other means by which' it is connected to a driving motor or. other source of power 40.

The arrangement for feeding blocks to the pockets will next be described. The usual practice of handling material as above mentioned such as butter, is to use a cutting machine by which a number of these blocks are cut at one time, for instance, as here illustrated, sixty four blocks are out at one time and delivered from the cutting machine to a board 42. This board containing the articles is transferred from the cutting machine to my wrapping machine and placed on supporting brackets 43. The board is formed with cleats 44 on the under side which are engaged by the bent ends 45 of the supporting brackets, which ends act as a pivot about which the board may be tipped from a horizontal to av vertical position. Adjacent the position occupied by this board is a longitudinal supporting plat form 46 on which is slidably mounted a follower 47. This follower comprises the vertical member 48 which is as high as the stack of articles. Attached to the follower on each side thereof, are brackets 49 which extend downwardly along the sides of the board 46 and are there slotted to engage guides 47 on the sides of platform 46. Extending upwardly froin the base 1, are supporting stanchions 48', and the intermediate portion of member 46 rests on these stanchions and is positioned thereon by means of dowels 50. The forward end of member 46 is ren'iovably supported in a cross bar 51. As here shown, in Figure 6, this means consists of the U-shaped inember 52 which is attached to the under side of the member 46, and is provided with rounded ends 54 which straddle the feed chute 53 and engage openings in the cross bar 51.

The feed chute just mentioned comprises the rear board 55, a stationary side 56 and a removable side 57. To the forward edge of the side 56 is attached a strip 58, the forward face of which is curved to serve as a guide for the articles. Strip 58 projects slightly over the inner surface of the side strip 56 for the purpose of preventing ar ticles from coming in contact with the side walls of the chute after they pass this li The width between the sides 56 and 57 is slightly greater than the width of the ar ticle to be fed and the distance between the face of the back wall 55 and the end of member 46 is slightly greater than the thick ness of the article. The back board 55 is supported on the cross bars 5l and 61 by means of clips 62 which are attached to the rear face of this member and form recesses to which the cross bars are held.

Below the platform 46, is a reciprocable plunger 63 having a cross section which is the same as that of the articles which are to be fed to the pockets. This plunger is carried by cross bars 64 which in turn are fastened to guides 65. The guides on their side edges are provided with gibs 66 which are engaged by correspondingly slotted bars 67. Extending laterally from one of the members 65 is a pin 68, this pin being engaged by one end of the connecting rod 70 the other end of which is mounted on a crank in 71. The crank 72 containing this pin, 1s carried by the inner end of shaft 33. The articles are fed in a horizontal direction from the bottom of the feed chute. and to hold the upper articles while one is being pushed forwardly, I provide the arrangement shown in Fi re 3. This device consists of a dat plate 72 which is carried on the rear end of sleeve 73, .the sleeve being slidably mounted on a rod 74, the front end of which is adjustably attached to a cross bar 75 which has its two sides pivotally mounted to the stanchions 48. A spring 76 is interposed betweenthe cross bar 75 and the rear end of sleeve 73, this spring thus exerting a pressure Whichtends to .push the plate in a rearward direction. The lower edge of the plate rests on the upper surface of plunger 63 and at some intermediate point the sleeve 73 is encircled b a slotted bracket 77 extending upwardly rom the plunger. Pivoted on this bracket is a movable abutment 78, this abutment being for the purpose of rendering the feed mechanism inoperative. Carried on the end of the sleeve 73 is a collar having a radially extending lug 79, through which extends an adjustable contact screw80, which is arranged to contact with the abutment 78 and the latter may be positioned either in alignment with the adjusting screw or to one side thereof. lf the abutment is positioned to one side of the path of the adjusting screw, no contact is made therewith, and hence the movement of the plunger 63 will not correspondingly move the sleeve and plate 72.

As hereinafter explained, a large number of the articles are carried to the machine on the board 42, the articles on this board standing on their ends; and the board tipped through a quarter circle, which positions the articles on the platform 46 in a number of rows, each row containing a uniform number of articles. The rows are then fed into the feeding chute at an interval depending upon the number of articles in each row. As here illustrated, there are eight rows and eight articles in each row,hence it would be necessary to feed a row of articles for each eight reciprocations of the feed plunger 63. This feed is accomplished by means of the mechanism next described. Revolubly mounted on the plunger 63 are ratchet wheels 81 which on the forward movement of the plunger, contacts with a pawl 82 in such a manner that the ratchet wheels are rotated one-eighth of a revolution. The side face of each of these ratchet wheels has a rib 83 in which are seven shallow notches 84 and one deep notch 85. These notches are arranged to engage ins 86 which extend upwardly from the ars 87. The latter are pivotally mounted as shown at 88 in one of the cross members 64 and thus reciprocate with the feed plunger. The outside faces of brackets 49 are provided with ratchet teeth 92 which are engaged b spring pawls 94. These pawls are pivotally mounted on the stanchions 48 and theirlower ends extend downwardlyto a point opposite the bars 87. The latter are provided wlth pins 90 and 91 which normally do not contact. with the lower ends of the pawls. Howeverthe bars are urged toward the lower end of the pawls by means of the springs 95 and at the time when the deep notch 85 comes opposite the pin 86, the latter is free to drop into this notch which permits bars 87 and the pins 90 and 91 to move inwardly so that. they come into contact with the lower ends of the pawls and move the latter. This action thus takes place once each revolution of the ratchet wheels which in turn are'timed to make one revolution for each row of articles fed to the chute. The faces of the ratchet Wheels are provided with numerals 96 which are for the purpose of enabling the ratchet wheels to be turned by hand so as to properly bring the feed into time with the number of articles which may remain in the feed chute. Thus if a full batch of articles are placed on the platform 46, and three articles yetremain in the feed chute above the level of the.

platform 46, the ratchet wheels are turned until the figure 3 is opposite the pin 86. Then, when the three articles have dropped so that the top of the upper one is on a level with the surface of platform 46, the pin will have dropped into the notch 85 and the follower 47 will e fed forwardly one space vihich is equalby o the width of a row of artic es.

Extending upwardlyv from the base plate 1, are certain standards 102 and 103 which are connected at intermediate points by horizontal cross bars 104 and 105. Standards 102 are slotted on their upper ends for the reception of a rod 106 on which is revolubly mounted a continuous roll of paper 107 Seated on the cross bars 104 and 105 is a brine tank 108. This tank contains a removable frame 109 carrying rollers 111 and 112 around which the paper is led. Frame 109 comprises two pairs of parallel side barsI 110 wh-ich are pivotally connected at their upper ends and have the rollers revolubly mounted in their lower ends. By this construction, the frame may be easily removed from the tank and placed back in position. Instead of threading the paper under the rolls," it is only necessary to position the paper across the top of the tank and then push the frame with its rollers down on the paper while holding the free end thereof. The

' below the rollers'.

lower ends of the bars are thus positioned in the corners of the tank and the paper is held I have found that by running the paper through brine, its tendency to curl is overcome.

From the tank, the paper is carried between the tension rolls 113 and 114. The former is flanged on the two sides as shown at 115, while the latter has asmaller width so that it fits between these fianges. Roll 114 is also made of a heavy material so as to effectively grip the paper between it and the lower roller 113, the upper roller being slidable in slots 116 formed in the sides of' uprights 103. v

In connection with these rolls, lf pro-Vide means for Setting the paper in motion independent of the gripping mechanism hereinafter described. Thismechanism consists of a toothed pinion gear262 attached to shaft 251 which carries the roller 113. To one side of this gear is placed a toothed rack bar 252 which is laterally shiftable so as to engage the gear 262 when moved in one direction and to be disengaged therefrom when moved in the opposite direction. On the face of the plate 253, en which the rack is formed is a slot 254 formed by the rib 260. Extending outwardly from the upright 103 is a pin 255 which either engages in this slot or against the back of the rib 260. Extending downwardly from the plate is an arm 256 the lower end of which is pivotally connected to the outer end of-au oscillating arm 140 hereinafter described. Springs 257 and 258 are provided on the inner surface of plate 253 and contact ren spectively with the stationary pins 259 and 261 respectively. Relation of the springs, pin and slot 254 is such that when the plate reaches its lowermost position, spring 257 urges it away. from the pinion and when rib 260 passes the pin 255, the plate is moved to the right as viewed in Figure 13 and brings the slot into alignment with the pin. This of course disconnects the rack bar from the pinion and movement of the roller ceases. Then on the upward movement of the arm 140, the rack bar moves in the same direction without contact with the pinion. When the lower end of the slot is reached, the spring 258 presses the plate in the opposite direction, causing the teeth of the rack bar to engage those of the pinion and placing' the pin on the outside of the rib 260. Then on the downward movement of the plate the pin serves as an abutment to prevent the action of the teeth from causing their disengagement.

From the tension rolls, the paper passes downwardly between the end of the tank and the feed chute and is engaged under the holding bar 120. This bar comprises the member 121, which is pivotally mounted in brackets which extend outwardly from the cross bar 51. The lower edge of the device is provided with an angular bent portion which is adapted to lie fiat against the fixed knife bar 122 and is held in this position by means of the counter. weight 123. In op eration, this bent end grips the paper between its face and the surface of'thc knife, and so prevents the edge of the paper from curling out` of position when a length is cut off.

The lower edge of the paper is carried down across the mouth of the pockets by means of the gripper fingers next described. A set of these fingers is provided on each side of the carrier and each comprises a member 124, having a rearwardly extending lug 125 to which is pivotally connected a somewhat similarly shaped member 126. Member 124 is provided on its upper end with a laterally projecting finger 128 which may be covered with rubber or other yieldable material for securing a grip on the paper. The upper end of member 126 has a similar laterally extending finger 129 which I prefer to make oval in cross section. The longitudinal axis of this finger is parallel to that of finger 128 and the relative position of the two` lingers is such that the oval tin ger 129 tends to wedge itself over the upper edge of finger 123. This relative position of the fingers causes finger 128 to slip oi of the knife 122 first. The members 124 and 126 are provided with laterally extending lianges 130 and 131 which contact with certain device for the purpose of spreading the fingers apart and guiding them while gripping the paper. Keyed to shaft 33 is an eccentric 134 which is surrounded by a strap 135. This strap is connected by a rod 136 with a crank 137 on shaft 138, which is oscillatively mounted in suitable brackets, formed on the side of upright 102. .lust inside of these brackets, shaft 138 has arms 140 keyed thereto and these arms extend in a forward direction with their outer ends positioned above the forward end of the carrier. Pivotally connected to these forward ends of arms 140 are links 141, which extend downwardly and are connected across their lower ends by means of a` roller 142. It will be noted that the latter is positioned so that its surface'is tangential to the mouth of the pocket in the carrier, and is held loutwardly by springs 266. These springs serve to hold the roller against the article in the and allows for slight variations in the size of the article. rThe members 124 are pivotally mounted to the links 141 as shown at 143. The two members 124 and 126 have their lower ends urged apart by means of a coiled spring 144 which is interposed between the flanges 130 and 131. The member 124 is caused to assume a predetermined position by means of the guides 145 and pocket with a spring pressure 146, the latter contacting with the finger 128, the former contacting with the fiange 130. As the paper gripping mechanism moves downwardly it draws the paper across the opening of the carrier pocket and in order to release the edge of the paper,I provide an. adjustable contact member 150 which is -placed in opposition to the guide surface 145. The lower cnd of this contact member is adjusted towards the surface 145 by means of screw 151. As the gripping mechanism moves down between these two surfaces, flanges 130 and 131 will be pinched together by the guides 145 and 150 which correspondingly opens the gripping fingers and releases the paper.

As shown in Figure 8, in the uppermost position of the gripping mechanism, one of the lingers is positioned back of the fixed knife 122, while the other .is positioned in front of it and to open these fingers so that they pass on opposite sides of the knife, I

provide the pivoted contact devices 154.

These devices are arranged to contact with the fianges 131 and thus to squeeze the lower ends together and move the gripping fingers apart, one passing to the rear of the fixed knife and the other to the front. The lower ends'of the fian es 131 pass above the contacts 154, releasing the flange to allow the finger 129 to `rest on the surface of the knife or holding edge 120. On the down stroke of the mechanism, the flange 131 contacts with the upper edge of the member 154 which pivots on its pin and thus rotates out of the path of the flange so that on the down stroke the gripping fingers are not pressed apart.

As previously mentioned, the.paper is carried in front of the carrier pockets by means of the gripping mechanism and when the latter reaches its lowest point, the required length is cut off by means of the movable knife 155. This knife is removably attached to the sliding guide members 156 and has the cutting edge for-med in the shape of a wedge so that the severing of the paper does not take place along the entire length of the knife at one time. This knife is moved rearwardly a sufiicient distance t0- enable the gripping fingers 129 to pass upwardly between its edge and the face of the fixed knife. The sliding blocks are moved by means of the arms 157, the upper ends of which are keyed to a shaft 160, oscillatively mounted 1n lugs 161 formed on ,the sides of the uprights 103. The lower ends of the arms extend downwardly and have heads which engage suitable slots 162 in the ides 156, which slots are of sufficient length to provide a certain amount of lost motion so as to insure that the knife remains at rest during the interval that the ipping fingers pass between it and the xed nism is moving upwardly and before the carrier commences to move, the roller 142 moves past the lower edge of the pocket and thereby rolls the lower projecting edge of the paper across the face of the article which has been positioned' in the pocket. Thereafter, the carrier is moved through 180 degrees and the other ed e of the paper is folded by means of the rler 181, which extends laterally from a bell crank lever 182. The latter is pivotally mounted in the upper end of a bracket 183 and has its other arm extending downwardly and engaged by a spring 184. The position of roller 181 is such that as the frame 3 rotates, edges of the strips 11 and 12 just pass' under the roller, which thus presses down the second edge of the paper. The degree of pressure on the paper may be regulated by turning nut 185 to change the tension of spring 184 while the downward movement of the roller is limited by nut 185.

To fold the paper on the ends of the articles, I rovide two pair of wings 186 and 187. ings 186 are attached to the upturned ends of the rods 188, while the wings 187 are attached to the cross member 189, which in turn is connected between the two bars 188. The outer ends of these bars rest on rods 190 which extend outwardly from some portion of the frame-work and these rods contain guide pins 191 which embrace bars on two sides. It will be noted, that the bars are inclined at an angle to the sides of the pocket so that the wings 186 approach the outstanding edges of the paper with a sliding movement. Longitudinal movement of the bars 188 is imparted by means of the fork levers 193 which are attached to a shaft 195. This shaft is oscillated by means of a connecting rod 196, one end of which is pivotally attached to the crankpin 71. The other end of the rod is held between pins 197 and 198 inlever 200 and is provided with a ratchet notch 199 which engages pin 198 and thus moves the lever in a counter clockwise direction. The rod is released from the pin 198 by means of an adjustable abutment 201. This abutment is arranged so that when the lever 200 is rocked a certain distance rearwardly, the head of the contact screw 202 will be brought into contact with the under surface of the rod and the further movement of the latter will lift itso that the notch is disengaged from the slides freely on the pin, while the lever 200 is returned to its normal 0f the spring 203.

On the shaft 195 is a sleeve 205, to which is attached parallel arms 206, the outer ends of which are spaced apart the width of the frame 3 and provided with wings 207 which are adapted to be moved across the ends of the carrier pockets. These arms are moved in much the same manner as the rods 188, by means of a similar connecting rod 210, which is also. pivotally mounted on the crank pin 71. One end of the sleeve is prob vided with an arm 212, containing pins 213 and 214, the rod 210 normally resting on the latter. The under surface of this rod contains a ratchet notch 216 which opens in the opposite direction from notch 199 so that engagement between the rod and arm 212 takes Vplace during the o posite movement of the rod. This rod is re eased by the same type of abutment shown at 217 and the parts are restored to their normal position by means of counter-weight 218.

The table 1 is provided with an opening 220 in which the carrier 3 rotates and on each side of this opening is mounted a spring holder' 223 in the upper end of which is rev olubly mounted a roller 224. This roller has its outer surface in the path of the edge of the carrier and is used to fold the last iiap of the wrapper.

When the machine is used for wrapping articles such as prints of butter, the row of prints about to be fed into the feed chute sometimes stick to the adjacent row and I provide a jarring arrangement to loosen them. This device comprises a bar 225 having the inclined ratchet notches 226 which engage a pin 232` This bar has on its rear end, a pin 227 which enters a notch 228 in the arm 229 extending outwardly from the side of the follower block 48. On the side of the removable chute member 57 is a bracket 231 which supports the opposite end of the bar and contains the pin 232. The distance between successive notches is the same as the width of the rows of articles. Attached to some portion of the frame is a spring 233 which has a lateral arm 234 which contacts with the outer end of bracket 231. Extending from the upper edge of member 57 is a strap 236, the other end of which makes Contact with the metal member 237 on the opposite side member of the chute. The position of the bar 225 may be to some eX- tent adjusted by means of screw 230 ex tending through the arm 229. Thus, whenever the follower block is moved to the left as viewed in Figure 6, the inclined surfaces of the notches will be forced pas-t the pin 232 thereby pressing the removable chute member 57 outwardly against the tension of spring 233. When the end of the incline has been reached, the pin is free to drop into position by means,

the next notch, whereb under action of the spring 233, the side 5 and attached parte are free tomoveto their normal position. ln so doing, the strap 236 strikes the stop 237 a shar blow which tends to release the stack o? articles over the feed chute from the stack that remains on the platform 46.

It will be noted, that all wooden paris of the feed mechanism with which articles come in contact are made removable for the purpose of cleaning. The bearing boards 42 are interchangeable, any number of these boards eing used in transferring articles from the cutting machine to the Wrapping machine. The follower block is removed by running it rearwardly on the platform and the latter is removable by lifting it from the dowel pins and then releasing the ends of the member 52 in the crbss bar 51. The holding member 72 is removed by merely lifting upwardly and rotatingr 0n the cross bar 75. Then in this position, the sleeve may then be slid olf of the rod 74. The chute itself is easily removed by lifting slightly so as to release the holding clips 62 from the cross bars.

Within the carrier frame are two levers denoted by 240, which are symmetrically dis- VVposed and pivotally mounted on rods 241 extending between the side bars of the frame. The inner ends of these levers are adapted to contact with the cam projection 9, while the outer ends have heads 242 which are posii tioned between the plates 11 and 12. The proportions of the levers and cam are such. that when one of the levers passes over the cam projection, the head of that lever will force the plate 12 outwardly thereby releasing the article which may be held in the pocket.

This releasing of the articles takes place when the carrier is in a substantially vertical position and the articles are deposited on a movable table 244. The latter is revolubly supported on a cross frame member 245, and from the center thereof extends upwardly a shaft 246, which is journalled in the bearing frame 38. The upper end of shaft 246 is proi vided with a bevel gear 247 which is driven by a pinion 248 on shaft 33. The ratio of this pinion and gear is such that on any rotation of the table, the articles are dropped in aposition between the positions in which articles were deposited on the previous revolution. Thus, if the articles are not removed from the table each revolution, they will not immediately commence to pile up one on the other. Just outside of the table 244 is a concentric stationary shelf 249 on which the articles may be handled for further packing.

The machine is shown just after a block has been fed to one of the pockets and as rotation of shaft 33 is continued, the crank 7 2 and connecting rod 70 push rearwardly the sliding plunger 63. Near the end of the plunger stroke, the abutment 78 contacts with (ill lill

the screw 80 and thus slightly moves the holding block 72 in a forward direction allowing the rear row of articles to drop into the feed chute onto the block 250, the upper surface of which is level with the pocket 10. At the same time, the cam member 31 lifts latch 21 and holds the end thereof out of notch 24 unt-il further rotation of the gear 32 causes the pin 17 on the back of gear 32, to enter one of the slots 17 turning disk 16, shaft 7, and the carrier 3. As the latter turns, the second edge of the wrapper is folded by coming in contact with roller 181. During the time the carrier is rotating, the gripping mechanism is moving downwardly under the action of eccentric 134 so that by the time the pin 17 is released on the opposite side of the disc 16, the gripping mechanism is substantially in its lowest position. In the meantime, the plunger 63 has been moving forwardly to engage the lowermost article and is pushing it toward the pocket. The wrapper by the downward movement of the gripper fingers has been positioned across the entra-nce of the pocket and further movement of the plunger pushes the article into the pocket carrying with it the wrapper. The carrier is held locked and in a fixed position by the latch being released from the cam 31 and dropping into the notch 24.

While the article is being pushed into place, the crank 72 is moving the rods 196 and 210 rearwardly so that notch 199 engages pin 198 and carries arm 200 to. the rear. This movement through bars 188 pushes the wings 186 and 187 to the right, thereby engaging the paper which projects from the right and left hand pockets. side fold is made and on the left hand the second fold, the latter being directly oppo site the former. Further movement of bar 196 causes abutment 201 to trip the bar, when the wings are brought back to their position of rest by spring 203. In the meantime, notch 216 has moved past pin 214 and on the forward movement of the rods, enga-ges with this pin. This pulls arm 212 forwardly rotating sleeve 205, moving the arms 206 and wings 207 downwardly. This brings the wings across the end faces of the article and folds the third side. In the meantime, the gripper frame `is moving upwardly and reaches its uppermost position before the carrier again commences to move. The upward movement causes the roller 142 to fold one of the edge flaps of the wrapper the other being folded as` previously described.

J ust before the gripper frame reaches its uppermost position the flanges 131 engage the pivoted contact devices 154 and `spreads apart the gripper fingers. This allows the fingers to move one to the front of the knife and the other to the rear.l As the flanges 131 pass the devices 154, they are released which allows the fingers to come together. with iin- On vthe right hand the first ylease the articles in the ger 129 resting on the wrapper. The parts are again positioned as they were at the beginning of' the description. The last fold 1s made just after the carrier starts to rotate when the projecting flap comes into ContactA with the spring held roller 224. l

The ripper fingers'imay be covered with soft-ru ber or similar material which has considerable friction so that as the frame moves down the forward jaw carries with it the end of the paper. The rear jaw, it should be noted, drops from the knife so that it is in position just under the forward edge of the knife when the other finger drops off. This insures that the paper is properly engaged between the jaws and so positions the upperI jawV in reference to the lower that a wedglng action is secured to more effectively' hold the paper. The downward movement continues until the grippers are below the pocket at which time the removable knife moves forward and cuts the paper. The last movement of the frame carries the flanges 131 to contact with the curved end of guides 150 to slightly spread the gripper fingers.

The articles are brought to the machine on boards which in this case holds eight rows of eight each. This board is placed on the support 43 and when the last of the previously positioned articles have been fed, the follower board 48 is moved rearwardly and the entire lot of articles placed in posltion by raising the board about the edges of the brackets 45. The follower board is thus brought against the rearmost row with the foremost row against the last previously positioned articles.l When this is done. the wheels 81 are rotated until the pin 86 is opposite the number which indicates the articles in the feeding row, which are above the surface of the board.' Thus, if the articles were as shown in figure 3, the pin would be set opposite the figure 3 indicated at 96. Then, when these three articles are fed, the pin drops into the deep notch 85 which allows the bars 87 to move toward each other. Themen the return movement of the plunger, the pins 9() engage the lowel` ends of pawls 94, rocking them and causing their upper ends to move the follower board rearwardly one notch, thus positioning the next row over the feed chute.

I claim as new and wish to cover by Iletters Patent:

1. An article wrapping machine comprising a rotary carrier frame, flexible plates eX- tending from the ends of said frame to form the side walls of article holding pockets, means for drawing a wrapper across the pocket, a plunger adapted to push the article and wrapper into the pocket, means for folding the projecting edges of said wrapper, and means for flexing said plates to repockets.

2. An article wrapplng machine adapted lOl to use a continuous strip of wetted wrapper, said machine comprising an intermittently movable rotary carrier, pockets in the ends of said carrier for the reception of the articles, a gripper frame movable across the mouth of said pocket, gripper fingers adapted to grasp the wrapper and carry it across the mouth of the pocket, a knife for cutting a given length of wrapper, a reciprocating plunger adapted to carry the articles with the severed wrappers into the pockets, and a roller carried by said gripper frame for folding one side of the wrapper against the article.

3. An article wrapping machine adapted to use a continuous strip ofwetted Wrapper, said machine comprising an intermittently movable rotary carrier, pockets in the ends of said carrier for the reception of the articles, a gripper frame movable across the mouth of said pocket, gripper fingers carried by said frame, means for moving said fingers apart to grasp the end of the wrapper, a knife for cutting a g';ven length of wrapper, and a roller carried by said gripper frame for folding one side of the wrapper against the article.

t.l An article wrapping machine adapted to use a continuous strip of wetted wrapper, said machine comprising an intermittently movable carrier having an article receiving pocket, a gripper frame movable across the mouth of said pocket, pairs of gripper fingers carried by said frame, means for spreading said fingers preparatory to gripping the end of the wrapper, spring means for pressing the fingers together to hold the wrapper, a knife ifor cutting a length of wrapper after the fingers have drawn the strip across the pocket, means for releasing the wrapper from the fingers, a plunger for carrying the wrapper and an. article into the pocket, and a roller carried by said frame and movable across said pocket to fold one end of the wrapper and a resiliently held stationary roller past which the pocket is moved for the purpose of folding the other end of the wrapper.

5. An article wrapping machine comprising a carrier, means for intermittently rotating said carrier through a semi-circle, diametrically disposed article pockets in said carrier, means for positioning a wrapper in front of one of the pockets, a feed plunger for pushing an article and the wrapper into the pocket, a roller movable across the pocket to fold one side of the wrapper, a resiliently held stationary roller for folding the other side of the Wrapper as the carrier is moved, reciprocating vanes for forming two end folds, oscillating vanes for forming an end fold, fixed rollers for making the last end fold as the carrier rotates, and means for increasing the width of the pocket to release the article held therein.

6. An article wrapping machine adapted to use a continuous strip of wetted wrapper, said machine comprising an intermittently movable rotary carrier, pockets in the ends of said carrier for the rece tion of the articles, a gripper frame movaiile across the mouth of said pocket, gripper fingers adapted to grasp the wrapper and carry it across the mouth of the pocket, a knife for cutting a given length of wrapper, a reciprocating plunger adapted to carry the articles with the severed wrappers into the pockets, a roller carried by said gripper frame for folding one si de of the Wrapper against the article and spring means for holding said roller against the article.

7 An article wrapping machine comprising a rotary carrier "frame, flexible plates extendinor from the ends of said frame to form the side walls of article holding pockets, means for drawing a wrapper across the pocket, a plunger adapted to push the article and wrapper into the pocket, means for folding the projecting edges of said wrapper, means for flexing said plates to release the articles in the pockets, and a rotary platform adapted to receive the articles as they are released from the pockets.

8. An article wrapping machine comprising a rotary carrier frame, fiexible plates extending from the ends of said frame to form the side walls of article holding pockets, means for drawing a wrapper across the pocket, a plunger adapted to push the article and wrapper into the pocket, means for folding the projecting edges of said wrapper, means for flexin said plates to release the articles in the poc ets, a rotary platform adapted to receive the articles around its outer edge as they are released from the pockets, and driving means for said platform whereby the articles are dropped upon it intermediate the position of two previously deposited articles.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

RUFUS A. SIMPSON. 

